Hi all, I'm working with a band and they had this piano bit as an introduction to one of their songs. The problem is they had that part 'click programmed' in a midi file with very few velocity tweaks. I would like to get this transferred to a nice piano sound. 

Also, I am not sure if it sounds natural but I really don't have the first clue on midi editing. So, If someone could find it in their heart to run this through a nice piano sound and edit it for naturalness, I would really appreciate it. Midi file if edited, and a final WAVE version would be great. 

Midi file : https://www.dropbox.com/s..._part%20%28Midi%29.mid 

WAVE file : https://www.dropbox.com/s...f0/this_piano_part.wav 

Many thanks!

It's a 50 second piano introduction and they don't have a piano player in the ensemble that can take care of this?



I'm not a piano player, but if I was tasked to do what you are asking about I'd just open up the PRV view and listen carefully while thinking about whether one or the other note would sound better louder or softer and then I'd just edit the note velocities.

The timing sounds ok but the note lengths seem a bit uniform... so the piece doesn't have much emotion... it's more about texture right now. If it's supposed to seem emotional, then I'd take another look at the note lengths and see if you can make it breathe a bit.



best regards,
mike

There is a guy in the UK who offers a service where you send him your midi file and he gets that to play the Yamaha diskclavier device which in turn is playing a very expensive grand piano. They record it using expensive mikes and pres and send the audio file back to you.

You may not have a budget for this but it worth a look and for anyone else needing this service. They can edit the midi file too and improve it if you need. Sounds like a good concept.

http://www.realpiano.co.uk/

I would think you'd want to be in the room with the piano so that you could hear what a subtle tweak in MIDI velocity amounted to acoustically when the hammer hits the string.

The idea that they may edit on site seems good.

The way velocity layers on a sample set are mapped is discrete and manipulated to give the impression of wide ranging dynamics.

The robotics on a player piano will have it's own unique response curve... a lot like the way each human player interacts with each piano action a bit differently.

I got to record a performance on a Hamburg Steinway last week. It was previously selected and owned by Aaron Copland, and it is maintained by the current owner as if it is the jewel of the fleet. Goodness, it was nice to be in that room for those few hours.



Anyways, my head's still trying to get straight with the idea that a song can have a 50 second intro... in my mind a 50 second piece is a song.  :-)



all the best,
mike

I'm not looking for something with top quality samples, I'm just looking for someone able to humanize it.

fanir, have you removed the files? I followed both links & neither were there.

Jeff Evans


There is a guy in the UK who offers a service where you send him your midi file and he gets that to play the Yamaha diskclavier device which in turn is playing a very expensive grand piano. They record it using expensive mikes and pres and send the audio file back to you.

You may not have a budget for this but it worth a look and for anyone else needing this service. They can edit the midi file too and improve it if you need. Sounds like a good concept.

http://www.realpiano.co.uk/

Jeff, that site seems to have disappeared. The link goes to holding page for 123reg.

Hi James. That link was certainly working last time I checked it and it is a very real website. I suggest checking back in a few days or so as they may be doing maintenance etc. 

It is good idea but may be costly for some. The cost does depend on the length of the music etc and how well prepared the midi file is as well. 

In the case of the OP it might be just a simple case to edit velocities and timing of the original midi file to make it sound much better.  One thing that often happens is that velocities are all way too high and there is no room for tonal expression as a result. Try pulling all your velocities say half way down. You might have to increase the level of the VST as a result but you will often find how nice many piano VST's actually sound at medium to lowish velocities and also how well they can change their tone as they get higher and higher. Then you can go in and start making some of the velocities higher and lower etc and the resultant sound will be much more natural.


Piano players actually don't often bash the living hell out of the instrument all the time for every note and chord do they so why do the same in the virtual piano situation.